7 Vices Transformed

The Brothers Grimm is the name used to refer to writers Jacob Grimm (January 4, 1785, Hanau (Hesse, Germany) – Berlin, 20 September 1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (February 24, 1786, Hanau – 16 December 1859, Berlin). There were two German brothers famous for his children’s stories, a woman called in German Shepherd Grimm obtained many of the stories collected in his book Kinder- und Hausmärchen (“Stories for children and home”), two volumes published in 1812 and 1815. The collection was expanded in 1857 and is popularly known as Grimms’ Fairy Tales unknown. His extraordinary diffusion has been instrumental in disseminating stories like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Cinderella,” “Hansel and Gretel” or “John without fear.” One controversial aspect of this success is that in many places the written version has shifted almost entirely to those still alive in the local oral tradition. The Brothers Grimm are also authors of the German Dictionary, German Legends, German Grammar, German Mythology which has earned them recognition as founder of German philology. Grimm’s law (1822) is named for Jacob Grimm,

Snow White is actually an ancient fairy tale documented by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. It has variations in other cultures, but today the best-known version is probably the Disney version.

Possible Influence on the story of Snow White.

Thanks to the research of the historian of Lohr am Main, Dr. Karlheinz Bartels, on the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the picturesque banks of the Main River in Franconia German, you can feel proud to have been born on 15 June 1728. Maria Sophia Catharina Margarethe von Erthal, real character who inspired the literary Snow White. Much evidence and points of connection with the characteristics of Lohr and surroundings prove, since 1986, this peculiarity of the famous story by the Brothers Grimm, which makes it stand out against most of the children’s stories. The father of the girl who, for various reasons, became the White fiction was Philipp Christoph von Erthal, between 1719 and 1748, Constable Electorate of Mainz in Lohr. By his diplomatic skills, often traveling as sent on special assignments, a kind of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Duchy. So I had the opportunity to interact with emperors, kings and queens of Europe. Hence, in the minds of the people of Lohr, the “von Erthals” had all the hallmarks of a royal family.

The family home was Castle Lohr. After the death, in 1741, Mother Maria Sophia’s father got married May 15, 1743 with Claudia Maria Elisabeth von Venningen, born Countess Imperial Reichenstein. The fact that Philipp Christoph von Erthal was almost never Lohr explain the apparent passive role of the king in the story, as the investigations have concluded.

The main proof that Snow White would naturally Lohr is the “Magic Mirror talking.” The rich mirror impressive 1.60 meters tall can still be admired in the Spessart Museum in Lohr castle that belonged to the parents of White. The mirror comes from Lohr Glass Manufacturing, founded in 1698, acquired fame and reputation across Europe, not only for its delicate and refined craftsmanship, but because the raw materials used for the manufacture of glass came – plus own region, also in Spain. Indeed, sodium carbonate, known as soda ash or soda was imported from Alicante, along the Spanish Mediterranean, the mirror was a gift from the father of Snow White to his second wife and spoke as many mirrors manufactured in Lohr especially the legends contained in their frames, especially through his aphorisms, but also for its peculiar acoustic properties, they do that by talking about it, the reverb make the words resonate. The clear reference to his selfishness on the medallion on the right (read “Amour propre”) must have hurt much vanity stepmother.

Have also been found local references in the area of Lohr. The “virgin forest” in which White was exposed, was naturally the Spessart. Currently, Lohr, even called the “Gate of Spessart”. The flight path of Snow White “on seven hills” was Hohenweg, already mentioned in the fourteenth century – the “Wieser Straße”. Since Lohr, through this journey, for the seven Spessart mountains, you could reach the little kingdom “of the Seven Dwarfs.” Also “the Seven Dwarfs that itched and dug in search of ore” small size were miners or, more likely, children working in mines Bieber. Around 1750 there stung about 500 miners for silver and copper.

As for the “poisoned apple” Bartels research has discovered, citing relevant literature in which the poison is described, that half of the block was submerged by the wicked stepmother belladonna juice, fruit that is also found in the Spessart. Its berries contain belladonna Atropa used even today in medicine. Its narcotic occurred in White rigidity as if he had died, the “transparent glass sarcophagus ‘and’ iron shoes”, with which, as a punishment, “the stepmother had to dance until you drop dead to the ground,” usually occurred Manufacturing in the glass first, and by blacksmiths thanks to malleable iron ore Spessart.

Due to the qualities of Maria Sophia, Lohr population had become a kind of fairy. The chronicler of the family Erthal, M. B. Kittel, described Maria Sophia as a noble young and full of virtues, “a charitable and kind angel”, “asset poverty and destitution” showing “staff helpfulness.” For the “collective imagination” of the people of Lohr and Spessart, the girl of Erthal represented the ideal image of the daughter of a King.

Another fact was that the people felt sympathy for Maria Sophia, while adding cruelty to the behavior of his stepmother, partial blindness was Mary Sophia suffered as a child and it was due to the aftermath of chickenpox. These facts, along the story does not happen frequently, should reach the ears of the Grimm brothers who lived nearby in Steinau. So, a few years after the death of Maria Sophia, continued writing and, at the end of 1812, the first publication of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The ancient mystery schools were ordered to lock in symbolic language all their secret teachings, making them popular stories, with the primary purpose of keeping them hidden to the eyes and knowledge of laymen, which is why many of these legends, as the case of “snow White and the seven Dwarfs” and the Jungle Book and Pinocchio contain concepts, messages and esoteric teachings that are narrated in history and are directed and are only unveiled the true initiates, who receive the keys to decipher and understand the true teaching. This is the only sure way to preserve and disseminate the secret knowledge that was transmitted from generation to generation until today.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs “with the passage of time became one of the more popular classic children’s stories. The year 1934 began rising popularity and spread with the intent of Walt Disney to adapt and create a film fully animated Technicolor, this film was released in December 1937.

To understand the initiatory symbolism of this story, it is necessary to identify the protagonists and their symbolic meanings:

* The Stepmother’s the secular world, with its constant attacks and prevailing wickedness, which seeks to take over our hearts.

* Snow White represents the initiate who must escape and get away from the evil Queen and start the initiation process, allowing you to find and know yourself, coming to identify and recognize the seven deadly sins (faults) capital, which are those that are part of our human nature, they are symbolized by the Seven Dwarfs:

Doc.- Pride: the desire to receive high honors and glory at any cost, believe than others.

Sneezy.- Greed is the excessive desire to hoard material wealth, regardless of the harm done to others.

Dopey.- Lust: Before the sexual appetite, making us stupid slaves.

Grumpy.- Anger: the difficulty to accept setbacks or live in permanent discontent and hatred of others

Sleepy.- Sloth: reluctance for doing at work or respond to spiritual things and to do good to others.

It is important to the initiate who wishes to progress on the path of inner or spiritual improvement, learn to detect and recognize these tendencies within himself must perform an internal examination of the characteristics of these shortcomings, considering that they are present in around us, no one escapes, all have either one or all.